Add Category
A senior manager from Queensland’s crime scene testing laboratory has rejected the idea that scientific processes suffered because of a workplace culture of blame.
Key points:
- DNA lab manager Cathie Allen told the inquiry she was aware some scientists had issues with her that dated back years
- Ms Allen was also questioned about the lab doing things "fast" rather than "well" because it was measured on its turnaround times
- Public hearings before commissioner Walter Sofronoff KC have been running for more than a month
Managing scientist Cathie Allen is continuing her evidence at the commission of inquiry into forensic DNA testing after last week being accused of repeatedly lying.
Ms Allen and fellow manager Justin Howes were stood down from their roles in September after an interim report raised a slew of serious concerns about the lab, leading to fears criminals may have gotten away with serious crimes.
The controversial 2018 decision to cease further testing of some crime scene samples containing very low levels of DNA has been a focus of the inquiry, as has the workplace culture at the Forensic and Scientific Services (FSS) laboratory which has been described as "toxic".
Counsel assisting the inquiry Michael Hodge KC today asked Ms Allen if she was familiar with the idea of a "no-blame culture within a laboratory like yours?".
Ms Allen replied that she was.
"And do you think that you run a laboratory or have run a laboratory with a no-blame culture?" Mr Hodge asked.
"Yes," she said.
The scientist was then asked: "How do you reconcile the idea that you ran a laboratory with a no-blame culture with the revelation from your executive director that scientists within your laboratory were afraid of the repercussions if they raised issues?"
Ms Allen replied that staff members had line managers and team leaders they were able to go to with any concerns.
"From my perspective I don’t believe that I blame staff, because I also don't want to be blamed, so I want to be a part of the no-blame culture," she said.
Mr Hodge continued to press the issue.
"Can you see that if there are scientists in your laboratory that are afraid to raise issues because of the repercussions they fear, that that would make it less likely that they would properly scrutinise experimental designs … and raise issues about them?
"Not necessarily, because as I say, there are other staff that they are able to go to talk to about those types of things," Ms Allen said.
Emphasis on doing things 'fast'
She said she was aware some scientists had issues with her that dated back years.
"I'm aware that there are staff that have a strongly held belief regarding me and that I have been unable to change that strongly held belief and I've engaged with my line manager regarding different options that we might have around trying to improve the culture within the lab so that we can move forward," Ms Allen said.
Counsel assisting also put it to Ms Allen that there was an emphasis in the lab on doing things "fast" rather than doing them "well" because the service was measured on its turnaround times.
"Do you agree that the way in which you have run the laboratory is akin to a factory line?" Mr Hodge asked.
"No, I do not," Ms Allen said.
Public hearings before commissioner Walter Sofronoff KC have been running for more than a month, with the inquiry's final report due back this year.
Ms Allen's legal team is yet to put questions to her.